For crying out loud, I've never heard a movie heckler yet who wasn't good. Though I won't be telling you to shut up, but I will complain to management who can either do something about it or refund me the ticket. If I want MST3K I'll rent one.

I notice more pre-theatrical release movies are available on Amazon Instant video. I'm happy to stay at home to watch the movies, especially if some rag like EW is going to plant the idea that heckling is good.

skinink:I notice more pre-theatrical release movies are available on Amazon Instant video. I'm happy to stay at home to watch the movies, especially if some rag like EW is going to plant the idea that heckling is good.

Sound like someone didn't read the article. Or at least missed this sentence.Needless to say, unless you enjoy incurring the wrath of your fellow moviegoers and getting booted from the theater, heckling should be restricted to special events where it's permitted

I remember watching the revenge of the sith in a packed theatre, and about three quarters of the way through (just after Anakin kills the jedi kids) someone near the back yelled out "WHERE THE F*CK IS SPOCK?"

12349876:skinink: I notice more pre-theatrical release movies are available on Amazon Instant video. I'm happy to stay at home to watch the movies, especially if some rag like EW is going to plant the idea that heckling is good.

Sound like someone didn't read the article. Or at least missed this sentence.

Needless to say, unless you enjoy incurring the wrath of your fellow moviegoers and getting booted from the theater, heckling should be restricted to special events where it's permitted

A disclaimer to cover EW's butt. "Yea, but it says right here at the end not to be stupid about it..." They say should be bot do not say "don't do this". Really, how many movies theaters allow heckling, outside of a Rocky Horror show? One small sentence in an article like that doesn't seem to encourage smart behavior. People already do things during a movie, answering their cell phones, bringing young kids to R-rated films. You think a one-line disclaimer is gonna stop some guy from heckling in your typical show?

DarkSoulNoHope:Someone from Comedy Central please give MST3K their show back! It's badly needed, especially with how the SciFi channel brings out a new pile of crap (meaning a movie) each week.

i'll second that. life is too short to hold out on the funnies. it's been too long and we've all damn near memorized the MST3K collection. hell, it's the only factory made VHS tapes still in the house.

Just STFU when in a movie theatre. That's the only rule you have to remember.

Guess How I know you didn't RTFA

"Usually the best [movies to heckle] are ones that take themselves very seriously yet have either some air of unintended comedy or tragedy to them." Cinematic Titanic runs old grade-Z shlockfests like War of the Insects and The Oozing Skull, while Benson favors more recent horror and action films (this week, he's hosting an Interruption of Battleship) and the Twilight series is a particular specialty of Master Pancake Theater.

Overall, my experience with people heckling movies has generally been as positive as it is rare. There's just a handful of occasions over a long period of time, with stretches where I was a pretty avid cinema goer. I guess the worst might have been two groups of urban youth denouncing the chastity of each others mothers during Ali, but I looked around at one point and it looked like I was the only one awake, so they were basically just bothering each other.

Ghost Rider was partially redeemed by someone who heckled one sceen, I remember the heckler, the scene but little else of the move.

During one viewing of Princess Mononoke a little girl shouted out "I wanna be a wolf princess!" and everyone but the mother thought it was hilarious.

In my mind, that audiance reaction is part of what makes a movie an event. Picking place and time that is likely to provide one with a good crowd is as important as picking a good movie. Something like The Dark Night Rises, I'll see opening night, last showing at the Cinerama, if at all possible. I'm going to pair a top shelf movie with what I expect to be the most excited and motivated audiance.

The ONLY time I ever witnessed an entertaining bit of talk-back at the movie theater was when my wife and I saw "Superman Returns" on opening weekend (don't judge), and right as the bullet squished against Superman's eye in that one scene, the entire place fell silent....

miss diminutive:I remember watching the revenge of the sith in a packed theatre, and about three quarters of the way through (just after Anakin kills the jedi kids) someone near the back yelled out "WHERE THE F*CK IS SPOCK?"

Was a big hit.

After his mother dies I said "Guess he's 'Little Orphan Ani' now," The GF thought it was funny.

If you are within arms reach and you pull any of this shiat, I will warn you, then I will fight you and I will win. Unless you actually say something funny, then we are getting drinks after whatever stinker we're watching fades to black.

CSB: Me and my friend Joseph went to go see Office Space the weekend it came out. There was NO ONE ELSE in the theater besides us (and the projectionist, unless he went out for a smoke). So we mooned Jennifer Aniston every time she came on the screen. HOW YOU LIKE OUR FLAIR, B*TCH?

If only it were just black people that ruined a quiet viewing. I've had more trouble with teenagers talking on phones and to each other than I've ever had with "Madea". I won't mention the race of the teenagers though because I realize it's not the color of your skin, but the values that you grew up with that separate decent, good people from the rest of the herd. Unlike you.

MagSeven:I won't mention the race of the teenagers though because I realize it's not the color of your skin, but the values that you grew up with that separate decent, good people from the rest of the herd. Unlike you.

I'll admit it, I'm biased. White people are painfully unfunny, and refuse to understand that movie-going is meant to be a communal, collaborative experience. Like you.

Why do people go to expensive public venues, and text the entire time? More people have nice home theaters. If they wait a few months they can not watch the movie in the comfort of their own home, and not antagonize anyone other than their friends and family.

Master Pancake and Hecklevision at the Alamo Drafthouse FTW. That movie theatre is literally half the reason I decided to move to Austin. Nothing quite like it anywhere else in the world, and so incredibly funny.

Local theater did this kind of thing about 5 years ago. Midnight screenings of older flicks for $1, $1 beers, and no rules about talking during the movie.During "Night of the Living Dead", as a character burst through a door, somebody shouted "Who be out here?". I realize it's one of those 'you had to have been there' moments, but damn, it got 10 minutes of laughter.

Yes, a professional comedy troupe (as in, they're paid to do it on a regular basis) crafting a routine around a movie in advance is totally the same thing as random asshats making stupid comments aloud when other people are trying to watch a film.

At a showing of the Wolverine movie, I overheard one of the most inappropriate heckles. During some scene, somebody asks Will.I.Am's character something like, "Do you remember Africa?" And one person either emulating a drunk redneck, or an actual drunk redneck(this was in Indiana, mind you) right on beat responds rather loudly "GO BACK THERE!!!"

I took me a good 2 minutes to regain composure and not burst into laughter.

I don't know if this counts as a "heckle", but it added to the movie-going experience. This occured during a screening of "Red Dawn" (way back in the 80's, I know).

My brother and a bunch of his friends smuggled into the theater a bunch of those little plastic "pocket paratroopers" toys, the ones that you throw up in the air, and the parachute unfolds as they fall back down. They all sat in different parts of the theater, and at the beginning of the movie when the Russians/Cubans invaded Colorado, the audience was treated to the best 3-D effects ever, as little paratroopers were launched throughout the theater.

snowshovel:I don't know if this counts as a "heckle", but it added to the movie-going experience. This occured during a screening of "Red Dawn" (way back in the 80's, I know).

My brother and a bunch of his friends smuggled into the theater a bunch of those little plastic "pocket paratroopers" toys, the ones that you throw up in the air, and the parachute unfolds as they fall back down. They all sat in different parts of the theater, and at the beginning of the movie when the Russians/Cubans invaded Colorado, the audience was treated to the best 3-D effects ever, as little paratroopers were launched throughout the theater.

The rule, almost without exception, is STFU during the movie or suffer the consequences.

However . . .

Mummy fight scene, between Nefertiri/Evy and Ank-su-namun, someone yelled out "Kiss her!" at just the right moment. Brought the house down.

Revenge of the Sith. During the falling in love montage between Anakin and Padme, right after the dreadful dialogue by the fire, some older guy beneath his breath mutters, "Give me a break." The tone, volume and delivery were perfect.

The Matrix Revolutions, near the ending when Neo and Trinity are going on, and on . . . and on . . . and on, about how much they love each other, my buddy starts snoring, and snoring pretty loud. It was pretty risky because it was a quiet scene, but the tone and reverberation was spot on. Could not stop laughing.

Ashtrey:Sounds like a lot of you guys dnrtfa. It's not about your dumbass yelling in a theater, it's about actual comedians holding a special screening. Like when the Rifftrax guys do live screenings.

This article does not suggest you do this. Hell it's damn near just an ad for the Drafthouse.

I don't know, it read like they were giving advice to the general public.

IMO its okay for some one to let out a line during previews, but NEVER during the movie. One damn teenager who wasn't the least bit funny kept trying to heckle the new Ateam movie which me and my little brother were enjoying. I actually had to get up and yell at the pudge ball. It shut him up.

Best heckle I ever witnessed was back in college and it was totally unintentional. My buddies and I went to see "Greystoke: Legend of Tarzan of the Apes" and there is the scene where Greystoke is running around the castle looking for Jane, screaming "JANE, JANE, JANE" at the top of his lungs. At the moment when there is silence on the screen, one guy leans over to the next guy and in a voice that had been calibrated to be heard over all the noise, except now it's way too loud asks the question......."Is her name Jane?". Everybody for five or six rows around was rolling on the floor because it was so damn funny.

The sad part is he was legitimately asking the question because, he wasn't the smartest guy on the block.

FTFA: and for people who want to get in on the action themselves, some theaters have even started offering special HeckleVision screenings, in which audience members can text their own jokes straight from their phones directly onto the screen

Great farking idea. Combining the two things moviegoers enjoy the most- texting during the movie and making stupid jokes about the movie, in facebookspeak no less.

God, I was seated next to some very annoying people when I went to the theater to see Snow White and the Huntsman.

I was sitting next in a 5 seat row on the aisle when a couple came in a took the other 4 seats. They are reserving a seat for 2 more people who didn't arrive until 5 minutes into the movie (full theater, annoyed a hell of a lot of people). The newcomer is another couple and some 4-6 year old brat that started crying intermittently (for god sake, don't bring little kid into movie like this). And one of the grownup couldn't SHUT UP about the most miniscule pointless thing. "Oh, that ain't good" "Uh huh" "Wow that's beautiful". Now, I'm ok with funny heckling, applaud, "hell yeah" things, but this woman just didn't know the queue. She's literally the only voice in the theater most of the time..